December 17 – Democratic Renewal Day of Kazakhstan

The Democratic Renewal Day of Kazakhstan by the Decree of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev as of December 12, 1991 On rehabilitation of citizens, held liable for participation in the events of 17-18 December, 1986 in Kazakhstan gave legal and political assessment of these events. People who unfoundedly had been held liable were fully rehabilitated and December 17 was declared the Democratic Renewal Day of Kazakhstan.

December 17 is also the Day of remembrance of victims of December 1986 events. Mass protests of youth took place in Alma-Ata (today’s Almaty) in December 1986 in response to the decision of General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to dismiss Dinmukhamed Kunayev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, and to appoint Gennady Kolbin, the 1^st secretary of the Uliyanovskii regional committee of the Party.